Born April 4, 1965 in Manhattan, New York, Robert Downey Jr. is an American actor who began acting as a young child.  He made his first film appearances and was a cast member on Saturday Night Live In the 1980s, but his growing success was marred by years of struggles with drug abuse.  Eventually turning his life around, he’s earned a resurgence of critical and popular acclaim and is considered one of Hollywood’s A-list actors.

Downey was the younger of two children of Robert Downey, Sr., an actor, writer, producer, cinematographer, and director of underground films, and Elsie Downey, who is also an actress and appeared in Downey Sr.’s films.  His father is of half Russian Jewish and half Irish ancestry, and his mother is of German and Scottish descent.  His father was born “Robert Elias” but changed his last name to “Downey” (after his stepfather James Downey) when he was a minor and wanted to enlist in the Army.  He and his older sister, Allyson, grew up in Greenwich Village.

As a child, Downey was “surrounded by drugs”.  His father, a drug addict, allowed Downey to use marijuana at age six, an incident that his father has said that he now regrets.  Downey stated that drug use became an emotional bond between him and his father.  Eventually, Downey began spending every night abusing alcohol and “making a thousand phone calls in pursuit of drugs.”  Downey’s parents divorced when he was 13, and the young actor ended up living in Los Angeles with his father.  At the age of 16, however, he dropped out of high school and was on the move again, relocating to New York to live with his mother.

During his childhood, Downey had minor roles in his father’s projects.  He made his acting debut at the age of five playing a sick puppy in the absurdist comedy Pound (1970), and then at age seven he appeared in the surrealist Greaser’s Palace (1972).  Downey made his earliest feature film appearances in such films as Baby, It’s You (1983), Firstborn (1984), Weird Science (1985), and Back to School (1986).  From 1985 to 1986, he was a regular cast member of the popular sketch-comedy program, Saturday Night Live.  Downey’s first leading role on the big screen was a charming womanizer in The Pick-up Artist (1987), a romantic comedy co-starring Molly Ringwald that was written and directed by James Toback.  His breakthrough performance came in 1987 with the film Less Than Zero (1987), which co-starred Andrew McCarthy.  Downey played the party loving, cocaine addicted Julian Wells in the movie.

From 1996 through 2001, Downey was arrested numerous times on drug-related charges including cocaine, heroin and marijuana and went several times through drug treatment programs unsuccessfully.  In 1999 He explained his relapses to a judge by claiming he have been addicted to drugs since the age of eight, due to the fact that his father, also an addict, had been giving them to him.

After five years of substance abuse, arrest, rehab, and relapse, Robert Downey, Jr. was finally ready to work toward a full recovery from drugs and a return to his career.  Downey got his first post-rehab acting job in August 2001, lip-syncing in the video for the Elton John’s single “I Want Love”.   Video director Sam Taylor-Wood shot 16 takes of the video and used the last one because, according to John, Downey looked completely relaxed, and, “The way he underplays it is fantastic.”  Downey was able to return to the big screen only after Mel Gibson, who had been a close friend to Downey since both had co-starred in Air America, paid Downey’s insurance bond for the 2003 film The Singing Detective.

Gibson’s gamble paved the way for Downey’s comeback and Downey returned to mainstream films in the mid 2000s with Gothika.  After Gothika, Downey was cast in a number of leading and supporting roles including well-received work in a number of semi-independent films:  A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, Good Night, and Good Luck, A Scanner Darkly, and Steven Shainberg’s fictional biopic of Diane Arbus, Fur, where Downey’s character represented the two biggest influences on Arbus’ professional life, Lisette Model and Marvin Israel.  Downey also received great notice for his roles in more mainstream fare such as Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Disney’s poorly received The Shaggy Dog, and David Fincher’s 2007 take on one of the most famous unsolved serial killing cases ever, Zodiac.

With all of the critical success Robert Downey, Jr., had experienced throughout his career, he had never appeared in a “blockbuster” film.  That changed in the summer of 2008 when Downey starred in two critically and commercially successful films, Iron Man and Tropic Thunder.  The first role Downey accepted after Iron Man was the title character in Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes. Warner Bros. released on December 25, 2009.  The film set several box office records in the United States for a Christmas Day release, beating the previous record holder, 2008′s Marley & Me, by nearly $10M, and finished second only to Avatar in a record-setting Christmas weekend release at the films.  In 2010, Robert Downey, Jr. signed on to reprise his role as Sherlock Holmes in Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (due for release Christmas 2011).  In addition, Downey has signed on to reprise his role as Tony Stark in The Avengers (to be released in 2012) and Iron Man 3 (to be released in 2013).

Aside from acting, Downey also ventured into showcasing his vocal skills.  He has sung on several soundtracks in his films such as Chaplin, Too Much Sun, Two Girls and a Guy, Friends and Lovers, The Singing Detective and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.  He released a CD in 2004 called The Futurist, and while promoting his film Tropic Thunder, he and his co-stars Ben Stiller and Jack Black were backup singers “The Pips” to Gladys Knight singing “Midnight Train to Georgia”.  On June 14, 2010, Robert Downey, Jr. and his wife Susan opened their own production company called Team Downey.  Their first project will be the Steve McQueen script, Yucatan, which is a heist film.

Downey started dating actress Sarah Jessica Parker after meeting her on the set of Firstborn.  They separated in 1991 because of his drug addiction, according to Downey.  In May 1992, Downey married actress Deborah Falconer.  Two years later, the couple had a son, Indio, naming friend and actor, Anthony Michael Hall, as the boy’s godfather.  Falconer divorced him in 2004.

Robert Downey Jr. Photo Gallery

Last Friday night, Hollywood stars and studio executives gathered at the Beverly Hills to honor the hard works of Robert Downey Jr.  The American Cinematheque  Award annually honors  “an extraordinary artist in the entertainment industry who is fully engaged in his or her work and is committed to making a significant contribution to the art of the motion pictures”.  The “Iron Man” star told Access Hollywood he was “thrilled” to be in the company of his closest friends and family, many of whom took the stage as presenters.

The actor’s father Robert Downey Sr., pregnant wife Susan Downey and industry friends Jon Favreau, Guy Ritchie and Michael Douglas all give their respective speeches for the year’s awardee. His friends and family discussed the story of his darker days and how proud they were of him for overcoming that time in his life and managing to get back on tract and resurrect his career as well.  “Right now things are kind of tipping my way, and I guess you’re supposed to enjoy that,” Downey Jr., 46, told Access on the red carpet.

Jodie Foster, a long time friend and previous American Cinematheque winner directed the 1995’s “Home for the Holidays,” in which Robert was a part.  She said, “He’s an amazing actor, and he’s impossible to walk away from. He’s kind and extraordinary and talented,” Foster told Access. “He was wonderful in our film, and I never had a bad day with him.”

The night was filled with laughter when Mel Gibson, Jamie Foxx and Gary Shandling took the stage in addition to the speeches of Jennifer Aniston, Jack Black and producer Joel Silver, who narrated one funny story from the set of their first movie together.  Robert Downey excelled in this movie genre when he did the films like “Due Date” and “Tropic Thunder.”  Before the night, Downey said in an interview, “I’m a little bit on the inside of this, so I know something about how the evening is going,” he said. “I expect nothing less.”

The event highlighted some clips of his excellent cinematic works and when asked what film he is most proud of, Downey answered, “My favorite movie is always the next one – so ‘Sherlock 2.’”  “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows,” will be hitting theaters on December 16 and the actor is also looking forward to the third installment of his movie “Iron Man” hinting the fans what they can expect from the upcoming movie he said,  “It’s going to be a really, really exciting bit of storytelling,” Robert said. “I won’t be surprised if it’s the best of the three.”
The 46-year-old actor, who is a standout in recently released “The Avengers” trailer, told Access he impressed to see the sneak peak.  “[The trailer] turned out well,” Downey Jr. said. “It’s been a fun week.”  In the 25th American Cinematheque Award held in LA, Downey bring back the glory to his tribute presenter and pal Mel Gibson saying, “You should forgive him and let him work again.”